DICKSON, Tenn. - Austin Peay men's golf team climbed into second
place in the Ohio Valley Conference Men's Golf Tournament despite shooting a
second-round 297, Tuesday, at GreyStone Golf Club.
Murray State (581) held firm to its opening-round lead with
a second-round 296 and sits 12 strokes ahead of the Govs (593). Jacksonville
State and Morehead State (594) are tied for third.
Murray State's Nick Newcomb shot a 69 - the tournament's
first sub-70 round - to move into the lead with a three-stroke advantage over
APSU senior Erik Barnes, Tennessee Tech's Jake Heatherly and Murray State's
Jared Wolfe. Tennessee State's Chris Seibel, the leader after round one, fell
to fifth after second-round 76.
"For the conditions today, I thought we did a pretty good
job," head coach Kirk Kayden said. "We had some consistency and we finished
well on the last three holes. We made the final pairing with Murray State and
that's important for us.
"You never know at this point - they've all got to tee it up
tomorrow and they've got to hit the shots one more day. You never know what can
happen when the pressure is on."
Junior Luke Sherrod led the Govs with a second-round 73,
making two bogeys and one birdie on the front nine and closing with 12 straight
pars. Sherrod is tied for tenth and second for the Govs with a two-round 147.
Barnes carded a creative second-round 74 and sits at
one-over par for the tournament. Barnes went two-under after back-to-back
birdies, but struggled with four bogeys and a double-bogey on his next nine
holes. The most frustrating play came on No. 5, a short 340-yard par-4, when
his second shot stuck the left bunker, burying the ball leading to the
double-bogey. Barnes went on to make bogey on Nos. 8, 9, and 10, but offset
those with a three-birdie streak on 12 through 14.
A 30 minute rain delay took place just before Barnes hit No.
8 green, as marble-size hail pelted the course, along with strong winds and
rain. While the hail held off throughout the day's remainder, the wind gusts
reached 25 miles per hour and rain continued sporadically. The Govs managed the
course well despite the weather, racking up pars and avoiding the big numbers
on the back nine.
"Being out there with strong winds and the rain, the pars
show that we were making good decisions on the course," Kayden said. "A tee
shot in the fairway, turns into a play where you can hit the middle of the
green, take a two putt and get out of there. When we missed greens, we were
chipping it close and making four-foot par putts."
Freshman Dustin Korte also shot two-over par in the second
round, with a double-bogey on No. 10 marring an otherwise clean round. He made
birdie on No. 14, bogeyed No. 15 and played the last three holes one-under par
with a birdie on No. 17. Korte is t-10th
at three-over par for the event.
Junior Brian Balthrop posted a four-over par 76 by playing
par golf, peppering in four bogeys along the way. After struggling through the
first 18 holes, Balthrop committed to a safe round and it paid off as a he
finished only a few putts away from a par round.
Sophomore Drew Miller, meanwhile, finished at seven-over par
with a 79.
"It was a decent day, but the guys thought they could've
been a little bit better," Kayden said. "Erik was disappointed with a few of
his stretches and Brian actually told me that he was feeling like it was
starting to come back to him. "
The Govs will play alongside Murray State and Morehead State
in the final round, with the first group teeing off at 9:40 a.m. Much like last
year, the Govs and Racers will have a chance to battle for the title in the
final pairing.
"Erik is going to be playing with Nick (Newcomb) and that's
going to be a great pairing," Kayden said. "(Erik's) only three shots out of
winning this thing and those two are really going to be going at it. It's going
to be exciting."
-AP-
